Oh My God!

[Anonymous]

This lady blogs on the best and worst cards at bankrate.com and I have 3 of the WORST!  I have good APRs, credit limits, etc. but didn't know most consumers thought so badly of WAMU, Wells Fargo and Chase.  I am going to turn these suckers in and apply for some of the top ones she recomemnds.  Read this:

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/credit-card-update.asp

[haulingthescoreup]

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MsQueenB wrote: I am going to turn these suckers in and apply for some of the top ones she recomemnds.

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Don't close, don't close, don't close, unless they have fees... At least, that's what I've gotten from many other posts, especially Tuscani

[phumanr]

I agree....it may hurt your debt to credit ratio limits (35% of your FICO Score)!! I am going to close 4 rebuilder cards because of the awful fees and they have very low limits..now that I have much higher limits.

MsQueen B, how did you get an Amex with a BK?

Phumanr

[Anonymous]

phumanr, that BK was filed in 1997.  It was removed from all my credit files early this year.  Ten friggin' years that thing showed up but, it didn't stop me from getting credit cards or mortgages.  AND, I got good rates too because I LEARNED MY LESSON!  I pay everything on time, mostly before time, pay more than the minimum and my utilization is 8% overall. A house don't have to fall on me twice.

You know, I have a friend who is an independent mortgage broker and he tells folks all the time that once you've declared BK, lenders will give you credit because they know all your debt's wiped out (unless you reaffirm).  The thing is, you'd better pay everything you get afterwards as agreed on time!  You really have no excuse not to.   Late payments are the biggest credit killers.  I learned that credit is NOT a right, it's a privilege.

[Anonymous]

hauling, none of my cards have fees.  I wouldn't pay anyone to have their card and get high interest rates to boot?  Just another way corporate America drains the working person's pocket!  After I filed my BK, I used my debit card for everything until my scores went back up.  It was hard as could be but I did it.

I'm not raggin' on anyone with a fee card because everyone's situation is different, no doubt.  But, for me, I detest the unnecessary crap we pay now as consumers (like ATM fees - don't let me go psycho on that one!) so I can't imagine paying Chase or any other company a fee to have their card!  We (myself included) get so dependent on these cards for convenience, we're somtimes blinded to the bigger picture.

Well, off my soap box!

[Anonymous]

I thought hatred for WAMU was common ground...

I like Wells Fargo actually. Not prime but when I had bad credit they got me into a car. And when I paid the loan 12 months in a row they gave me a platinum card. I also have a line of credit with them. They were going to do a new car loan for me but the dealership screwed me and ran my credit again AFTER I said I was preapproved with Wells Fargo like 20 times. They got me a nice prime rate but now I have several new inquiries which screws me later...

[fused]

Closing CCs if done right, should have very little if any impact to your scores in the short-term. And yes I do not agree with some of the others on this. There are other reasons to close CCs other then they're costing you money. For some closing CCs can be a life saver if they have too many and manage them poorly...too many late payments.

[Anonymous]

Look for my post and you are going to see the top credit cards...this lady is quoting from consumer report...

The best credit cards out there are.......

Message Edited by Redamagon on 09-16-2007 05:22 PM

[Anonymous]

I personally LOVE Chase... I think they're fabulous!!

[Tuscani]

The only area of scoring where closing an account can hurt you is in the revolving utilization calculations. While a closed revolving account with a balance is included in utilization, a closed account with a zero balance is not.

In the area of length of credit history, closed accounts are treated no differently than open accounts. That is, the length of history on a closed acct still gets counted right along with the rest of the closed account's history. In fact, the length of credit history gets counted for every trade line on your report, regardless.

So, the only harm by closing a revolving account is to the utilization percentage, while, in the long run, a closed account will be removed from your credit file after 10 years, which could lower your score at that time due to the loss of that history.